Pope's homily for Holy Thursday Mass at St. John Lateran

This is awesome:

Pope's homily for Holy Thursday Mass at St. John Lateran

Here's the text from the above link:

Dear Brothers and Sisters!


Holy Thursday is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to itself. To Holy Thursday also belongs the dark night of the Mount of Olives, to which Jesus goes with his disciples; the solitude and abandonment of Jesus, who in prayer goes forth to encounter the darkness of death; the betrayal of Judas, Jesus’ arrest and his denial by Peter; his indictment before the Sanhedrin and his being handed over to the Gentiles, to Pilate. Let us try at this hour to understand more deeply something of these events, for in them the mystery of our redemption takes place.

Jesus goes forth into the night. Night signifies lack of communication, a situation where people do not see one another. It is a symbol of incomprehension, of the obscuring of truth. It is the place where evil, which has to hide before the light, can grow. Jesus himself is light and truth, communication, purity and goodness. He enters into the night. Night is ultimately a symbol of death, the definitive loss of fellowship and life. Jesus enters into the night in order to overcome it and to inaugurate the new Day of God in the history of humanity.

On the way, he sang with his disciples Israel’s psalms of liberation and redemption, which evoked the first Passover in Egypt, the night of liberation. Now he goes, as was his custom, to pray in solitude and, as Son, to speak with the Father. But, unusually, he wants to have close to him three disciples: Peter, James and John. These are the three who had experienced his Transfiguration – when the light of God’s glory shone through his human figure – and had seen him standing between the Law and the Prophets, between Moses and Elijah. They had heard him speaking to both of them about his "exodus" to Jerusalem. Jesus’ exodus to Jerusalem – how mysterious are these words! Israel’s exodus from Egypt had been the event of escape and liberation for God’s People. What would be the form taken by the exodus of Jesus, in whom the meaning of that historic drama was to be definitively fulfilled? The disciples were now witnessing the first stage of that exodus – the utter abasement which was nonetheless the essential step of the going forth to the freedom and new life which was the goal of the exodus. The disciples, whom Jesus wanted to have close to him as an element of human support in that hour of extreme distress, quickly fell asleep. Yet they heard some fragments of the words of Jesus’ prayer and they witnessed his way of acting. Both were deeply impressed on their hearts and they transmitted them to Christians for all time. Jesus called God "Abba". The word means – as they add – "Father". Yet it is not the usual form of the word "father", but rather a children’s word – an affectionate name which one would not have dared to use in speaking to God. It is the language of the one who is truly a "child", the Son of the Father, the one who is conscious of being in communion with God, in deepest union with him.

If we ask ourselves what is most characteristic of the figure of Jesus in the Gospels, we have to say that it is his relationship with God. He is constantly in communion with God. Being with the Father is the core of his personality. Through Christ we know God truly. "No one has ever seen God", says Saint John. The one "who is close to the Father’s heart … has made him known" (1:18). Now we know God as he truly is. He is Father, and this in an absolute goodness to which we can entrust ourselves. The evangelist Mark, who has preserved the memories of Saint Peter, relates that Jesus, after calling God "Abba", went on to say: "Everything is possible for you. You can do all things" (cf. 14:36). The one who is Goodness is at the same time Power; he is all-powerful. Power is goodness and goodness is power. We can learn this trust from Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives.

Before reflecting on the content of Jesus’ petition, we must still consider what the evangelists tell us about Jesus’ posture during his prayer. Matthew and Mark tell us that he "threw himself on the ground" (Mt 26:39; cf. Mk 14:35), thus assuming a posture of complete submission, as is preserved in the Roman liturgy of Good Friday. Luke, on the other hand, tells us that Jesus prayed on his knees. In the Acts of the Apostles, he speaks of the saints praying on their knees: Stephen during his stoning, Peter at the raising of someone who had died, Paul on his way to martyrdom. In this way Luke has sketched a brief history of prayer on one’s knees in the early Church. Christians, in kneeling, enter into Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives. When menaced by the power of evil, as they kneel, they are upright before the world, while as sons and daughters, they kneel before the Father. Before God’s glory we Christians kneel and acknowledge his divinity; by that posture we also express our confidence that he will prevail.

Jesus struggles with the Father. He struggles with himself. And he struggles for us. He experiences anguish before the power of death. First and foremost this is simply the dread natural to every living creature in the face of death. In Jesus, however, something more is at work. His gaze peers deeper, into the nights of evil. He sees the filthy flood of all the lies and all the disgrace which he will encounter in that chalice from which he must drink. His is the dread of one who is completely pure and holy as he sees the entire flood of this world’s evil bursting upon him. He also sees me, and he prays for me. This moment of Jesus’ mortal anguish is thus an essential part of the process of redemption. Consequently, the Letter to the Hebrews describes the struggle of Jesus on the Mount of Olives as a priestly event. In this prayer of Jesus, pervaded by mortal anguish, the Lord performs the office of a priest: he takes upon himself the sins of humanity, of us all, and he brings us before the Father.

Lastly, we must also pay attention to the content of Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives. Jesus says: "Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want" (Mk 14:36). The natural will of the man Jesus recoils in fear before the enormity of the matter. He asks to be spared. Yet as the Son, he places this human will into the Father’s will: not I, but you. In this way he transformed the stance of Adam, the primordial human sin, and thus heals humanity. The stance of Adam was: not what you, O God, have desired; rather, I myself want to be a god. This pride is the real essence of sin. We think we are free and truly ourselves only if we follow our own will. God appears as the opposite of our freedom. We need to be free of him – so we think – and only then will we be free. This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the fundamental lie which perverts life. When human beings set themselves against God, they set themselves against the truth of their own being and consequently do not become free, but alienated from themselves. We are free only if we stand in the truth of our being, if we are united to God. Then we become truly "like God" – not by resisting God, eliminating him, or denying him. In his anguished prayer on the Mount of Olives, Jesus resolved the false opposition between obedience and freedom, and opened the path to freedom. Let us ask the Lord to draw us into this "yes" to God’s will, and in this way to make us truly free. Amen.

Read This

This is a great article by a family friend. It is so easy to get sucked into the trappings of modern culture, all the while wailing about the evils of sexual promiscuity, abortion, contraception and violations against religious liberty. Am I ready to eschew the barrage of garbage modernity offers via television shows, movies and music?? Are you?

Food for thought ...

Culture Wars? What Culture Wars? — Crisis Magazine

Solemnity of St. Joseph and a special birthday

Again, from the archives ...

http://darby-beyondpearls.blogspot.com/2011/03/solemnity-of-saint-joseph.html

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Rejoice, O Jerusalem!

We are at the midpoint in our Lenten journeys - an opportunity to reflect on how well we've been observing our sacrifices and resolutions. Are we continuing toward a renewed relationship with Christ? Are our hearts being transformed? This Sunday the Church observes Laetare Sunday - a day when rose colored vestments are worn and flowers are permitted on the altar. It is a day of encouragement, hope and joy as we progress toward the end of this penitential season. It is a day where our souls are refreshed and fortified to meet Christ in His Passion and accompany Him on His way to Calvary. Half way through our journey, our anticipation for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection grows. It seems all of creation is preparing - the early Spring flowers are blossoming, trees are showing off newly adorned buds, even the bees are abuzz with expectation. We really do sense the approaching and glorious light that marks the promise of Easter.

For my family, the anticipation of the glory of Easter is marked by a palpable expectation, excitement, hope and joy as we await the birth of a little girl already loved so very much. Sometimes too eager for her arrival - and there is a real fear that she could come too soon - we know we must slow down, quiet ourselves and prayerfully wait. All the while, we continue to prepare - my daughter in very tangible ways - to welcome this precious gift of new life even as we set our eyes on the triumph and joy that is Easter morning.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” 

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

 We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.

 Romans 8:15-25

Emptied to Overflowing

As Ash Wednesday approached, I concluded that I really wanted needed to challenge myself a bit more than usual this Lenten season. In a way, I've been craving Lent for quite awhile. I've hungered for its discipline and its promise to fill me with the nourishment needed to bring me to Easter Sunday a better person, more spiritually aware and open to continued growth and maturity.


It is in embracing a life of self-denial, in giving up the things we love too much, that we are able to cling to our Creator who in loving us to death brings us to life. 

Dearest Jesus, permit me to die to myself. Take all of me; my strengths as well as my weaknesses; all that I have offered in a spirit of sacrifice and create a new spirit within me.

It is in embracing a life of prayer that we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus. It is the manner in which we get to know Him, to fall deeply in love with Him. Through prayer He teaches us, too, how to love others - to love our neighbor whomever they may be.

Dearest Jesus, abundantly bless my neighbor, my family, my friends and particularly my enemies, this day and every day. My hope is in You and the grace that will bring me to Easter truly knowing how much You love them and the promise that my own love for them will have grown. 

 Dearest Jesus, remind me, too, throughout these 40 days, to begin and end my day in thanksgiving and praise for all the blessings bestowed upon me and upon those I hold dear. 

In embracing a life of work we understand that even in the often mundane, ordinary circumstances of life, our work is honorable and redemptive.

Dearest Jesus, help me to realize that my work honors the talents and gifts You have given me. I want to be genuinely - not begrudgingly - grateful for those working moments! Grant me the grace to better understand how the hardship I may experience while mopping floors, cleaning out closets, or scouring the toilets, provides me an opportunity to participate in Your redemptive work by offering it all to You in union with Your own suffering. 

By embracing a life of almsgiving we are encouraged to give materially to the poor or to consider giving monetary donations to charitable organizations. We must also contemplate giving more of our time, our love, and our attention to others and to God without expecting anything in return.

Dearest Jesus, help me to be truly grateful for all that I have and move me toward genuine generosity - not only to give materially to others, but to truly give more of myself and to expect less! To surrender all to You - all of my spiritual and temporal possessions, including the rewards of any good action of mine, past, present and future with the right to make use of me and what is mine, without exception, for the greater glory of God through time and eternity.(Adapted from Saint Louis Marie de Montfort's prayer of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary).

By embracing this season of Lent with hearts open wide, we learn to walk the Way of the Cross, in union with our dear, dear Lady as she invites us, nay, begs us, to accompany her Son in His passion and journey to death. Gazing upon Him on the Cross, we see how He so desperately thirsts for us - for all of us. By pouring ourselves into Him in answer to His fervent plea, we soon discover that it is His mercy, His love and the glory of His Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning, that in turn fills us to overflowing.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

A bit of a Random Rant ...

Fair warning: this is going to be one of those "I just need to get it off my chest" posts. It's just that there has been so much on my mind and in my heart over the past few weeks. At any rate ... I apologize if it all seems a bit of a random rant.

Regarding the HHS mandate controversy -

• No matter how many voices claim that this is a women's rights issue - it is not. It is and continues to be a fight for religious freedom and conscience rights. It is not about the legality or accessibility of contraception.  The USCCB is only interested in protecting our Constitutional rights and freedoms as Catholic citizens of the United States of America. The Obama administration is responsible for driving the wedge and politicizing this issue - not the bishops.

• Polls do not always reflect the truth. Do yourself a favor and read this and this, too.

• Since some do want to make this all about contraception - do you actually know why the Catholic Church opposes its use along with sterilization? As a cradle Catholic even I didn't always accept the Church's teachings - sure out of rebellion and monstrous pride, but mostly out of ignorance. Thanks be to God, after about 10 years into my marriage I discovered my grievous error and had a complete change of heart. Do yourself another favor, open your heart and your mind and read this (including the list of additional resources) before you lash out at the Church for her "draconian, oppressive" beliefs. In the end, you may not agree, but hopefully you will have a better understanding of where the Church is coming from and why she simply cannot accept the terms of the HHS mandate. 

Regarding internet etiquette:

• I realize that social networking sites such as Facebook, or the comment sections on the endless variety of blogs or even online journals, etc., are far from the most ideal mechanisms for debating religious or political issues - however, why must anyone resort to using profanity, vulgarity, below-the-belt insults and the like to make their point? I have noticed that it occurs across the board, but honestly, it seems to be most prominent among those who describe themselves as liberal Democrats. At any rate, no matter what 'side' you're on, as soon as I encounter it your argument no longer holds any weight or validity. You may as well be 'talking' to the wall. I do not expect agreement on every issue, but if you would like me to seriously consider your opinion, please, for goodness sake, refrain from disgusting, petty insults. It does nothing to support your cause.

Finally, as a pro-lifer -

• I believe with every fiber of my being that life begins at the moment of conception. The particular stage of development doesn't matter. Whether a zygote, a blastocyst, an embryo, or a fetus - she is still a human life, with an eternal soul created by God and deserving of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some claim she is merely a 'blob of tissue' until she reaches a particular place in her development. So, at what stage does she become a human being worthy of the aforementioned rights? When she can survive on her own outside the womb? Isn't that a bit arbitrary? I mean, some babies survive at 26 weeks gestation while others do not. Who decides? Has science determined that for us? Obviously, I am struggling to understand this point of view. It just makes no sense and never has. And, well, then there are others who do acknowledge that abortion indeed destroys a human life at any stage, but they argue that the rights of the mother trump those of the unborn. Even more malicious, if you ask me, particularly in light of this document.

Saint Thomas More, pray for us, and pray for our country.

Saint Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle ...

Bravo, bishops!

In response to President Obama's preposterous compromise regarding the HHS mandate, the USCCB has issued the following statement:

Bishops Renew Call To Legislative Action On Religious Liberty

February 10, 2012

Regulatory changes limited and unclear
Rescission of mandate only complete solution
Continue urging passage of Respect for Rights of Conscience Act

WASHINGTON – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have issued the following statement:

The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare. That is why we raised two serious objections to the "preventive services" regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in August 2011.

First, we objected to the rule forcing private health plans — nationwide, by the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen—to cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion. All the other mandated "preventive services" prevent disease, andpregnancy is not a disease. Moreover, forcing plans to cover abortifacients violates existing federal conscience laws. Therefore, we called for the rescission of the mandate altogether. 

Second, we explained that the mandate would impose a burden of unprecedented reach and severity on the consciences of those who consider such "services" immoral: insurers forced to write policies including this coverage; employers and schools forced to sponsor and subsidize the coverage; and individual employees and students forced to pay premiums for the coverage. We therefore urged HHS, if it insisted on keeping the mandate, to provide a conscience exemption for all of these stakeholders—not just the extremely small subset of "religious employers" that HHS proposed to exempt initially.

Today, the President has done two things.

First, he has decided to retain HHS's nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients. This is both unsupported in the law and remains a grave moral concern. We cannot fail to reiterate this, even as so many would focus exclusively on the question of religious liberty.

Second, the President has announced some changes in how that mandate will be administered, which is still unclear in its details. As far as we can tell at this point, the change appears to have the following basic contours:

 ·It would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write. At this point, it would appear that self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate.

·It would allow non-profit, religious employers to declare that they do not offer such coverage. But the employee and insurer may separately agree to add that coverage. The employee would not have to pay any additional amount to obtain this coverage, and the coverage would be provided as a part of the employer's policy, not as a separate rider.

·Finally, we are told that the one-year extension on the effective date (from August 1, 2012 to August 1, 2013) is available to any non-profit religious employer who desires it, without any government application or approval process. 

These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protectionfor key stakeholders—for self-insured religious employers; for religious and secular for-profit employers; for secular non-profit employers; for religious insurers; and for individuals—is unacceptable and must be corrected. And in the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer's plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns.

We just received information about this proposal for the first time this morning; we were not consulted in advance. Some information we have is in writing and some is oral. We will, of course, continue to press for the greatest conscience protection we can secure from the Executive Branch. But stepping away from the particulars, we note that today's proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. In a nation dedicated to religious liberty as its first and founding principle, we should not be limited to negotiating within these parameters. The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.

We will therefore continue—with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency—our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government. For example, we renew our call on Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. And we renew our call to the Catholic faithful, and to all our fellow Americans, to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

HHS at work: eroding Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience

On January 19 Pope Benedict XVI delivered a deeply poignant, Ad Limina address to the bishops of the United States warning of the rising threat of secularization in America resulting in the inevitable erosion of religious freedom. His words, succinct, direct - clearly packing quite a punch - remarkably came on the eve of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement that religious institutions will be required to cover contraception - including abortifacients - and sterilization procedures in their employee health plans. Opponents to this mandate, most vociferously the Catholic Church, had lobbied hard for an exemption that would have permitted religious institutions who employ people of differing faiths, such as Catholic colleges and hospitals to opt out of providing such coverage. However, in the end, the exemption applies solely to parishes, houses of worship and non-profit religious entities that primarily employ or serve people of the same faith.

President Obama was 'kind enough' to telephone Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the United Stated Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to deliver the blow. (It has been difficult not to imagine how pleased Mr. Obama was to 'rub Archbishop Dolan's nose in it'.) Dolan, responding in a WSJ.com opinion piece, addresses the HHS offer of a one year delay in the enforcement of this rule for colleges and hospitals, stating "... as if we might suddenly be more willing to violate our consciences 12 months from now." Surely HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, cannot expect the Church to decide one year from now, to ignore or strip away more than 2000 years of history where countless martyrs spilled their blood in defense of religious liberty and conscience?? Catholic institutions will be subject to stiff fines if they choose to drop health insurance altogether in violation of the employer mandate.

Clearly this mandate is a violation of our first amendment rights. Despite the fact that part of me believes this is a direct and deliberate attack on the Catholic Church, it comes as a huge smack in the face to anyone concerned with religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The issue really isn't about the lawfulness of providing contraceptive services for all employees; it is about the totalitarian and pernicious financial (or otherwise) coercion of those whose consciences simply cannot permit them to provide these types of services. Besides, these services are readily available elsewhere at little or no cost.  

It is imperative that all Catholics (and others) heed the Holy Father's words to the U.S. bishops:

"At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such."

And further ...

"In light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church's public moral witness presented by a radical secularization which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of  a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience."

Throughout the centuries our popes - prophets for all eras - have called on the faithful to fight the rising tides of injustice. Sadly, many of our bishops haven't always listened. I can't help but wonder if more of the faithful, led by all of our bishops, had heeded the clarion calls of past popes would we now find ourselves sinking in the mounting muck of radical secularism? Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, for his part, is asking all of the faithful (and others) to speak out in protest to the HHS mandate.  It's a good move; it's the right move. But is it too late?

Heart's Pure Vision

Looking out of the window ... I suddenly saw how tenderly, how gently, how warmly, how lovingly Christ bends toward the world. At that moment I also understood the words "cosmic charity," and when these words touched me, they expanded my heart to embrace especially all those who are weak and who keep on falling. 

But then I looked again and I realized that everyone is weak and everyone falls! Does that mean that to be pure of heart one must love everyone? Yes ... I have to open my heart to everyone who is weak, and that means everyone. Now I know why the pure of heart shall see God, and even see him now, because he is in the ones who are weak.  

Yes, he will be in them, in each one of them, and that thought brought me to ... the Eucharist. I saw the bread given to everyone present and I realized vividly and clearly that everyone among those present, including myself, was weak, prone to failing and falling again and again, and somehow I understood with the heart what the beatitude meant.

 From Opening My Heart to Everyone by Catherine de Hueck Doherty.

Through her kitchen window she studies a fading blue sky wrapped now in ribbons of gray. She wishes for snow, realizing, of course, that meteorologists have been predicting frozen precipitation for the weekend. Just once this winter, whose mild demeanor has most assuredly benefited many, she would like to be swept up by snow falling on snow, to be succored by its power to hush a world too busy, too hurried and too fallen. A wish, a hope for new snow, pristine, beautiful and graceful to wash away all bitterness from her soul. A vivid and tangible reminder, too, of the words that have indelibly marked her these few months:  

Those who are pure of heart can see God in everyone.

She had gone away sad, discouraged drawing her pride tightly to herself unaware just then that she really needed to thrust it aside, to tear it away and give it up to the night. Yet, sorrowing, she went away with it. But the words echoed in her dreams and accompanied her everywhere, refusing to go away. The sorrow, too, became her stalwart companion, lovingly nudging,and forever reminding to allow grace to fill her with a marvelous and growing hope. 

Father forgive me for eyes that refuse to see, for a heart stone-cold and marred by selfish desire.

And in the permitting of grace, hope soars and speaks of a heavenly reward. A reward not entirely exclusive to a life to come, but a promise for the here and now for those with hearts pure as snow. She carries this resolution, born out of a time of preparation, of glorious anticipation and celebration, into the new year, greeting each new dawn with whispers of it.

The Sweetest Gift of All

My family is very good to me all year round, and this Christmas was no exception.

I received from them the loveliest gifts.

Some are genuinely warm and just too funny:

Some make me feel decisively pretty and feminine:

Some make me feel beautiful INSIDE as well as out:

And some are quite practical indeed:

And very, very useful:

Some may add inches to my hips, but are still positively sweet:

But the truly sweetest gift of all 

is the news we had been waiting 

two weeks to learn:

A new little baby granddaughter due to arrive

this Spring!

Molasses Drops & Coffee Cakes: Grandmothers' Treasures

I loved their home. Everything smelled older, worn but safe; the food aroma had baked itself into the furniture.  ~Susan Strasberg

I have in my possession a treasure. Its name is simply, Mamie's Cookbook. It belonged to my maternal grandmother.  Her parents christened her Alice Evelyn, but she was called Evelyn. Her grandchildren affectionately called her Mamie, the name my oldest brother - her first grandchild - gave her when he was a baby learning to talk. For the longest time, I thought it was her given name.

One quiet afternoon before Christmas, as Katie and I sipped tea, we carefully pored over each fragile page of Mamie's cookbook. I'm not sure where my grandmother acquired it. Across the top of each careworn page is inscribed: "D. of V. Cook Book". I asked my mother what "D. of V." meant, but she did not know. The book is covered in brown paper, frayed and torn in places and held together by twine threaded through the binding. The original deep blue paper cover is gone - only small, brittle fragments remain and continue to chip away. The pages, dotted with evidence of spills and splotches of sauces or batter, contain printed recipes from contributors whose identities are marked only by their initials. Mamie added her own favorite recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines or from packages of flour or baking soda boxes. The scotch tape securing them in place is golden-brown with age. Many pages are filled with recipes inscribed in pencil by my grandmother's own beautiful hand. Often there is a name of a friend or relative attached to a recipe along with a date - my great grandmother's recipe for spice cake is there ... add 1 tsp all kinds of spice. Most of the recipes were added in the 1920s and 30s. There are free standing pages typed or hand-written (some by my mom or my aunt) inserted here and there. Many of the recipes do not indicate oven temperatures and instruct the 'cook' to bake in a moderate oven until golden or browned. I love this cookbook.

I love this cookbook, because it keeps Mamie, who passed away when I was 12 or 13, alive in my mind and in my heart. I love seeing her penmanship. I love how her words are immortalized allowing me to introduce my children to a dear great grandmother they have never known. Katie has discovered how clever Mamie could be by whipping up a tasty dinner menu using only the ingredients she had stored on her 'emergency shelf' when a 1936 storm prevented her from heading out to the store to shop for food.

 

 A portion of her menu is hidden beneath the newspaper clipping. I am including her note and menu here:

The following menu was worked up from the emergency shelf on a storm day when I couldn't get to the store - 1936

 Very delicious menu

Creamed Shrimp Patties
Baked Spaghetti and Cheese
Scalloped Tomatoes
Hot Sour Milk Biscuits
Vanilla Pudding with Strawberry Sauce
Tea

Katie and I giggled at how well stocked my grandmother must have kept her emergency shelf. Not sure we could pull off on a whim as complete a meal as Mamie did with items stored in our pantries! 

Every Christmas I bake Freda Foley's Molasses Drops. Freda Foley's recipe is not included in Mamie's cookbook, but she was a friend of my grandmother's and the recipe has been passed down through the generations. No other baked goods conjure up the spirit of Christmas like these cookies do. The mere aroma of the batter, a fine mixture of molasses, cloves, ginger and cinnamon, has the power to melt the heart of even the most sour-faced Scrooge.

They are simply delicious and delightful.

 

There are a few cookies and cakes that we traditionally bake at Christmas time that we sometimes never get around to making. And that's okay. We almost always make Buckeyes, for example, but once in awhile it is permissible to not include them in our repertoire of holiday sweets. But not so Freda Foley's Molasses Drops! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without them. Another Christmas must-have is Margaret  McMahon's Coffee Cake. The recipe I have is written on the back of a yellow flier advertising an Oil Change and Lubrication Special for $7.95 at a Shell gas station that my husband, Jim, managed many years ago in Detroit, Michigan. It is written in Jim's handwriting and yes, he inadvertently misspelled the last name by omitting the Mc!

My family has been nibbling on Margaret McMahon's Coffee Cake every Christmas morning since we had babies in our house. My husband's Aunt Kathie (his mother's sister) was kind enough to send me a note informing me of Margaret Ann McMahon's identity. She is Jim's mother's first cousin. Her mother, Mary Sexton Mahoney is the sister of Jim's "Grandma K" (Catherine Ann Sexton Kilsdonk). A big slice of this coffee cake along with a few good, strong cups of coffee have provided much-needed stamina to my husband and me on many early Christmas mornings when the children were little and the opening of gifts could take hours. We nibbled on it this year as we waited for our breakfast casserole to come out of the oven. I can't show you a picture of it, because there is no more to show! It never lasts very long on the cake plate. However, I will include the recipe for it and the Molasses Drops at the end of this post.

And so, I am grateful for my grandmother and Jim's dear cousin, for introducing us to their own delectable recipes and those of their friends and relatives. Friends have mentioned to me how they, too, have old, family recipes that have been handed down through generations. Delicious recipes that have stood the test of time and connect us in a palpable way to those from our past; allowing great grandmothers to reach out to the great granddaughters they have never known, but perhaps dreamed of on stormy nights in 1936. May God bless all our Mamies, and Grandma K's, Freda Foleys and Margaret McMahons. May the souls of those who have departed this world rest in peace and may good health and cheer be granted to those who are still with us. 

Freda Foley's Molasses Drops

350 degree oven

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

4 tbsp molasses

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp each cloves, ginger and cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Roll in small balls and dip in sugar. Bake 2 inches apart about 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on cookie pan a few minutes. (I bake them on parchment paper and a little more than 12 minutes so they come out crispy).

 Margaret Mahon's Coffee Cake

1 cup shortening or butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups sifted flour (I don't sift All-Purpose Flour)

3 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

Mix in order, beating well after each egg. Fill angel food pan (or bundt pan) that has been well greased and floured with 1/2 inch of batter. Spread on batter 3 tbsp sugar, 3 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts). Cover with remaining batter.

Bake for 70 minutes at 350 degrees. While warm turn pan upside down and let cake fall out.

ENJOY!